Santa Claus makes haunted house his Christmastime workshop

Keith Bryant/The Weekly Vista Guests board the North Pole Express, a Christmas-themed bus to Santa’s workshop, while Chris McAllister, right, working as the conductor, punching tickets and helping guests board.
Keith Bryant/The Weekly Vista Guests board the North Pole Express, a Christmas-themed bus to Santa’s workshop, while Chris McAllister, right, working as the conductor, punching tickets and helping guests board.

The North Pole Express rolled in next to Ozark Kayak on Friday to pick up several families for a wild ride to Santa's workshop.

The ride was put on by the Leos Club, a freshly-formed, youth-oriented offshoot of the Lions Cub. The Leos repurposed the haunted house between Northwest Frontage Road and Wishing Spring Drive to make the workshop. The haunted house's bus -- now adorned with Christmas lights and a Santa Claus face -- carried families in, jerking and braking and swerving in time with a video played in front of passengers.

The workshop was full of elves at work, and ended with a chance for kids to visit Mr. and Mrs. Claus themselves, played by Steve Taylor and Trina Lee.

Jeff Black and Tracy Black, who brought their 2-year-old son, Kaleb Black, enjoyed themselves.

Tracy Black said, while they did have a good time on the whole, there was a tunnel in the house that was a little frightening for her son.

"It was a good ride," Jeff Black said. "They did a good job with it."

Jacob Williams, 18, is president of the Leos club, which formed in early November and has members aged 12-18 years old. Admission Thursday, Dec. 29, he said, is going to be $10 for adults and $5 for children. Friday, Dec. 30, he said, will be a "spoof night," where the show will be poking fun at popular films, with admission a flat $10. The fees, he said, will help to fund the new club.

Friday's event was free, he said. The club was only asking that attendees make donations to the Arkansas Chapter 7-2 of the Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association, a nonprofit organization that raises funds to help local veterans.

The chapter's commander and treasurer, Steve Real -- who goes by the road name "Top" -- said that while the association is a national organization, funds raised by a local chapter are used in that chapter's area. This event, he said, raised $715.95.

"We operate 100 percent on donations or money we raise to help local vets," Real said. "Our mission is vets helping vets."

The chapter provided volunteers to help with the haunted house in October and also with Santa's workshop last week.

For some volunteers that returned from the haunted house, it was a significant change of pace.

T.J. Michaels, whose family has helped with both the haunted house and the workshop, bounced about in his elf costume on a pair of spring-assisted stilts.

"I'm used to wearing a mask and scaring people," Michaels said. "It's a very different scene than I'm used to."

Converting the haunted house to a festive feature was no small task. The walls were adorned with wrapping paper and colored lights, the spooky decor was hidden, covered or repurposed, and young volunteers dressed as elves greeted and guided guests through the tight corridors.

Leos president Williams said this work started about the same time the club started in early November.

"It was a lot of work that we did in a very short time," he said. "I'm very impressed with what we did."

He's hoping for plenty of attendance Dec. 29 and 30, he said, If all goes well, he expects the club to do this again next year.

"Hopefully with less of a time crunch," he said.

General News on 12/28/2016